Concerning the Holy Apostle Luke (Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos)

By Nikephoros Kallistos Xanthopoulos

Luke, a native of Antioch, came from a lineage located in Coele-Syria. He was a physician by profession, and thoroughly skilled in the art of painting. 

In Thebes, the seven-gated city, he encountered the wondrous Paul, and abandoning his ancestral error, he approached Christ. Instead of healing bodies, he devoted himself to the healing of souls. 

Moreover, the Gospel according to himself was written under the dictation of Paul. Similarly, he also authored the Acts of the Apostles.

Prologue in Sermons: October 18

It Is a Sin to Indulge in Hopeless Grief Over Dead Children

October 18

(About Blessed Cleopatra and Her son John)

By Archpriest Victor Guryev

It is difficult for parents to bear the grief of their children's death. Only those who have lost children themselves can fully understand and feel the depth of this grief. However, no matter how difficult this loss, those parents who, in their grief for their deceased children, reach the point of despondency and despair and even approach utter hopelessness, commit a sin. To enlighten such parents, we deem it useful to share the following account from the life of Blessed Cleopatra, whose memory the Holy Church celebrates on the 19th of October.

"Before My Operation, the 12 Holy Unmercenaries Came and Stood All Around My Bed"

 

Elder Emmanuel of Gregoriou recounts the following miraculous incident with the Holy Unmercenaries:

"Do you remember, Elder, telling me about a miracle of the Holy Unmercenaries?"

"Yes. I heard about one that happened in my time. When I took over this Cell of the Holy Unmercenaries, the covers of the Holy Table were worn out. I had to change them. The issue was also financial and, moreover, I did not know anyone who could sew them. Fortunately, I remembered a woman from Thessaloniki. She had previously sewn three sets of covers for me for Holy Week. With the financial help of pious women, this woman, Amalia was her name, bought the covers and sewed them. However, from the exhausting work, she went blind.

October: Day 17: Teaching 2: Venerable Martyr Andrew the Cretan

October: Day 17: Teaching 2:
Venerable Martyr Andrew the Cretan
 
(How Do We Approach the Performance of our Duties?)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. On the feast day of the Holy Martyr Andrew the Cretan, who, out of zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of his neighbors, denounced the impious iconoclastic Emperor Constantine Copronymos (who lived in the 8th century) and for this was subjected to the most cruel tortures and death in full view of the Orthodox, whom he never ceased to teach until his last breath the truth and obedience to Holy Mother Church, it is fitting, my beloved brethren, to discuss whether we fulfill our Christian duties as Saint Andrew the Cretan did.

October: Day 17: Teaching 4: Commemoration of the Miraculous Rescue of the Sovereign Emperor on October 17, 1888

October: Day 17: Teaching 4:
Commemoration of the Miraculous Rescue of the Sovereign Emperor on October 17, 1888
 
(Lessons From This Event:
a. God's Mercy To Our Tsars, and
b. We Must Revere the Sovereign)

By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko

I. Few years have passed since that saving moment, namely, October 17, 1888, when the most merciful Lord showed us all His rich mercy, preserving our Tsar, now reposed in God, and His entire august family from a terrible, inevitable death during their journey by rail in the south of our fatherland. Terrible was that moment, terrifying was that moment, but God's mercy is ineffable and His right hand is mighty.

Truly, only the great God, the worker of miracles, performed before our very eyes one of the great, ancient wonders of His omnipotence and His goodness: He, the most merciful, sent His angel to preserve the life of our beloved Monarch, the now most pious Dowager Empress, and Her Children. And so, amidst all the horrors of that shattering event, that terrifying scene of destruction, ruin, and death—the crash of splintering locomotives, the roar of rain, the whistling and howling wind, the groans and cries of the wounded, the mutilated and mangled corpses of the slain, the angel of death hovering over each one's head — our Tsar and His entourage remained safe, sound, and unharmed.